It's all about teaching music in the Middle School years and Public Education! Sight Singing Tips for Middle School Music Teachers; Fun Activities; and Classroom Management tips for new and struggling teachers!

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Saturday, December 17, 2016

Parent Volunteers are an invaluable resource in our music
classrooms.In part
1 of this series, I wrote about how to get started.

In part 2, I am going to write specifically about three
characters I’ve encountered along the way and how I carefully dealt with the
difficulties that arose so that I could utilize the incredible gifts they were
willing to share with my students.

The key ingredient parent volunteers bring is passion, and
they often have many things to teach us.

I’ve encountered several stage moms during my 25 years teaching
choral music and musical theater.

Their children are the most talented of the group (in their
view…and sometimes in mine.)

They usually come to us with lots of experience and many
talents.

One of the parents wanted to pick our musicals around her
child.Another parent wanted to co-teach
my musical theater class.

So, I let them.

…because I knew they brought lots to the table that would
help my students.

I was also fully aware that I needed to be assertive enough to
carefully set the boundaries when they were needed.

It isn’t always easy to do, but the outcome is worth it.

These involved parents have edited music, altered keys to
songs, built sets, helped students prepare auditions, prepared videos,
organized chorus shirt sales and so much more.One of the parents actually coordinated other parents to sew 65 pink
dresses and hats for a song from one of our shows.

Does it come with difficulty?

Yes.

As educators, we have to learn to be politely assertive when
the time requires it.Just like we do
with our students, we have to be respectful when we need to have the tough
conversation, and we must respect the free time they are offering to help
enhance the work we are doing.

If you haven’t watched the episode listed in the link above,
you should do it.It’s hilarious.

I suppose Cam is similar to “Mama Rose”.

My “Cam” hid his talents from me during his son’s 6th
grade year.

However, I vaguely remember that he came to the first
musical rehearsal of the year and sat in a prominent position in the room.

He just watched.

At that time, I didn’t know him at all, but I didn’t respond
in any way to his presence other than to say hello and introduce myself.I didn’t feel threatened by his being
there.

But…

That was my way of setting a boundary.

After that, I didn’t see him again for months.

Then, about one week before the show, when the stage
director I had hired was struggling to come up with some costumes, Cam went
home and whipped them up.She gave him
permission, and he seized on it!When
he brought the costumes in the next day, I was astounded.They looked totally professional in every
way.

The next day was “tech” rehearsal.The sound person was struggling with an issue
with microphones, and Cam stepped right in and fixed the issue.

I pulled Cam aside and said, “What is your background and why
have been holding back?”

He was nervous to cross boundaries…probably based on the way
I carefully set them with my physical response on the first day of musical
rehearsals.

At that point, I decided to empower him.He had awesome skill sets that I did not
have, and the experience we can give the students through his expertise
combined with mine is an amazing one.

Fast forward one year later…

I had a new stage director.

She was young…and quite territorial.

Since I’d empowered Cam the previous year, he was ready to
share his talents.I was grateful, but
she was not.

Tough and very tense situation…

I did a lot of listening and gentle guiding for both of
them.

In the end, my stage director relented and let Cam do some
costume work, and she loved the result.When she was overwhelmed and uninspired with the staging of a couple of
songs, she ended up handing the songs over to him, and he did a magnificent job
bringing them to life.

She was not happy to admit it, but she gave him “props” in
the end.I don’t think they will be life
long friends, but that isn’t what is important.

The essential piece of the puzzle is the experience the
students were able to have on the night of the show.

Over the years, I’ve invited choral conductors into my
classroom to teach my students.Middle
school students aren’t always open to new ideas, so this can be a tricky
situation.

One of my parent volunteers in recent years is a choral
conductor at a local church in our community.I had heard wonderful things about her teaching, but because of past
experience, I was nervous to ask her to come into my classroom to teach my
students on a day when I was going to be absent even though she’d willingly
volunteered.

I prepared the students the day before…

“There is more than one way to teach singing to
children.My way is one way.There are many other ways that are great.Whatever you are taught by the volunteer
tomorrow, even if you think it’s opposite of what I’ve taught, do it and give
it everything you’ve got.”

I’ve said that many times before to my students when I’d
hired folks to come in, and it didn’t matter.

Fast forward to the day I return to my classroom…

I didn’t get a single complaint from a student when I
allowed this parent volunteer to teach.

In fact, I think they might have thought I should go and
take lessons from her!

…which is super.

I just had to be willing to let go and receive the help.

I was.My students
learned.It was good for everyone.

As teachers, we can’t do everything.We have certain gifts.When we combine those gifts with the gifts of
other people who are passionate about helping their children and who have
enormous talent, the students gain experiences they will always remember.

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

I have lots of news to share… New blog posts that may help
you with your holiday concert if yours is yet to come, Level TWO Sight Singing
Examples ONLY, giveaway winner, 20% off sale, and news with Music Prodigy!

#1:Giveaway winner
and Two-Day Sale

Congratulations to Brandon G!He is the winner of the giveaway of the
S-Cubed Middle School Sight Singing Program!I notified him this morning!Thanks to those who entered!Starting today and ending tomorrow, December 14th at
midnight, my entire
store will be 20% off.Take
advantage of the savings!

#2:On my blog, I’ve
shared this
document that I give my students and parents regarding the attendance
policy for the holiday concert.Perhaps
you can use it too! I sent it to my
students via Remind.com.I also emailed
it to my parents, and I handed a hard copy to my students and went over it
orally in class.I did my best to “dot”
the i’s and “cross” the t’s to ensure the best attendance, and it worked!I hope it works for you!

#3:Also on my blog,
I’ve begun a series about working with parent
volunteers.I’m sharing ideas about
my own approach, and I will end the series by sharing some information about
how to have a successful parent conference that results in behavior change in
your students who need it.

#4:In my TPT store,
I’ve added Level
TWO Sight Singing Examples ONLY!This product is designed to help teachers who are using Level TWO and
who do not have a projector or for those who wish to hand out the sight singing
examples to their students.

#5:As you know, I
love using the homework assignments I created on Music
Prodigy as a supplement to S-Cubed. I enjoy the practice time and the accountability
if offers, and I love being able to listen to the children individually without
having to force them to sing in front of others. If your students can figure
out how to play video games on their iPads, and use Snapchat and Instagram,
they can figure out Music Prodigy!Until
December 31, 2016, if you have purchased S-Cubed, you can add the Music
Prodigy Supplement to your program for only $100.Starting January 1, the cost of the renewable
annual subscription will be $150, so if you’ve been thinking of trying it out,
do it!For more details about how Music Prodigy
works, click
here.

Sunday, December 11, 2016

This week is your holiday
concert!Looking forward to hearing you
sing while you spread the first bits of holiday cheer with your beautiful
voices!

Thanks
for your hard work!

Here are some details:

Concert date:

Thursday, December 1

Your Arrival time:

Between 6:30-6:45 PM

Concert start time:

7
PM

Concert end time:

About 7:40 PM.

What to do once you arrive:

*Use the restroom and get
water before heading to the gym.Once
you are in your spot, you must stay.

*Go to my room and place a
check beside your name.This is how
attendance will be taken.

*Get a candle

*Get your flashlight.

*If necessary, you can
refresh your flashlight paper, but only do so if the paper is ripped
badly.

What to wear:

Tucked
HMS chorus shirts with black pants/skirt and black shoes

On that day, what standards am I
expected to meet?

You are expected to be
“little professionals”.

Since August, we have learned
what that means.Here is a list of some
of the expectations:

*On time arrival and check in
as described above.

*Watching the conductor

*Proper response to
conductor’s signals

*Quiet between songs

*Quiet when the lights go out

*Proper use of flashlights

*Safe use of candles

*Proper respect and quiet
when other groups are singing

*Dealing professionally with
the unexpected

*Proper return of candles at
the end of the concert (Quietly handing them down to the right).

When
the concert is over, please take all flashlights home.

Alumni:

During “Light the Candle”,
HMS chorus alumni may come up and sing “Light the Candle” with you.They will stand in front of you or beside
you.Please make room the best you can
and be flexible.

Missed Concert:

This concert is required of
all chorus students.It is not optional.

The only acceptable reasons
for missing the concert:

1)Death in the
family(Note required on the day your
return)

2)Illness (doctor’s
note required on the first day your return to school).

If
you miss the concert and fail to meet the above requirements, the consequence
will be a grade that is significantly lowered.

If you miss the concert and
meet the requirements above, you may be assigned a makeup assignment.When you bring me the note, I will let you
know whether you have an assignment and what it will be.The makeup assignment, if assigned, will be
due no later than December 16 at 8:45 AM.You can bring it to me during homeroom, or you can email it to me at (Your email address)